What we've learned from others - Man and Mighty Beast
Wanted to call a few key learnings out separately. We've learned these from some folks we considered people who had a lot of wisdom and accomplishments, plus there are big things to learn from nature as well. Hope you enjoy.
Fess Parker
We had the honor of meeting and talking to Fess Parker, TV and Movie star who played Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett among others. He was also a very successful businessman in the Santa Barbara, CA area. When he died, we went to his memorial service and got to hear what others thought on him. He was one of the best high integrity humans we ever came across. A quick story that relates to today's culture:
Fess told us he met with the Disney CEO, proposing that they re-air the 3 Davy Crockett episodes he had made years prior, specifically targeting children, as it was very wholesome entertainment. The Disney CEO did not agree to do it, feeling there was not a market for wholesome entertainment. To us, our culture needs that badly. It is a shame that Disney was not willing to do this and today has morphed into (not for the best interest of children) a Woke agenda, with much of what they advocate today not in keeping with established morals. Fess told us he did not agree with the Disney CEO. He did feel there was a market for wholesome entertainment and we concur.
Ruffles
Ruffles the Orca was the most impressive creature we've ever seen. He taught us the value of freedom.
Ever gone to Seaworld or see pictures and the captive Orca's fin is bent over. Further, the captive Orca's don't live as long.
Ruffles was always free. We met him at the San Juan islands, north of Seattle. We included a little video below, but the way the whale watching trips go is that you drive out an hour on the boat and you wait for a sighting, which sometimes takes a while. On this trip, we say the other Orca's in the Pod, then we saw Ruffles and his huge fin, standing straight up. He was the alpha male, the top "Wolf of the Sea" and so awesome to see. He was Free, and had been his whole life, which made for a much better quality of life.
Ruffles (Born ~1950, Died 2011)
Even though he is now deceased, Ruffles remains one of the most recognizable killer whales in the Pacific Northwest. Known for his 6-foot tall, ruffled-edge dorsal fin, he was the patriarch of J Pod, one of the three pods that make up the endangered southern resident killer whale community.
Ruffles lived to the ripe old age of 60, which is well beyond the average life expectancy for killer whales. Males usually only live to the age of 30, so Ruffles lived an exceptionally long life! He even managed to escape death or capture at the hands of whale hunters in Penn Cove in 1970—the infamous day when 4 or 5 orcas drowned and 7 were captured and delivered to marine parks. Ruffles was the oldest known male killer whale in the world, and fathered at least 7 calves in all three pods, J, K and L.
Ruffles frequently traveled alongside Granny, J Pod’s 100-year-old matriarch, but he hasn’t been seen since November 21, 2010. He was officially listed as missing in April 2011 and has since been declared dead.
Amy Grant
<<add story about move from ca to tn>>
We've learned a lot from Amy. She taught us about Tennessee and was influential in our decision to leave the West Coast and move here to be closer to family. She's also had challenges in her life that she's overcome including a bad marriage. She also taught us about volunteering in this area. Finally, she's one of the leading citizens of the Nashville area and has been a good role model in that area.
In 2009-2010, we had a bit of a dilemma. It was starting to be a recurring concern that we were so far from our children and grandchildren. We saw them a couple times a year, but it was always a big event to have to travel that far or bring them to California. In addition, the timing was starting to line up. I was coming to the end of a 10 year engagement with ERG and if there was any time to make a move, it was then. We saw Amy in concert a couple times in California and also had a chance to meet and briefly talk to her a couple times. She always talked so favorably about the Tennessee area and it got us interested enough to investigate and was a factor when we finally decided to move.
Once we got to Nashville, we started going to the Amy/Vince Gill (her husband) Christmas show at the Ryman. The Ryman is a special place, one of the best acoustic venues in the country. If you're interested, here's more: Info about the Ryman. We'd highly recommend it.
Here's a video from one of their shows - which we've seen many different years and they always get us in the mood for Christmas.
Amy could be reasonably categorized as a spiritual leader. Because of her divorce mainly, I've seen her take a lot of criticism. In the Lessons Learned section, I talk about the concept of throwing the first stone and I think that fits here. To me, she does so much good in the world and she models goodness, kindness, forgiveness, and love - in addition to her faith - the world is very lucky to have her.
Blue Whales
Ever met a Blue Whale? We got a chance to meet 3 off Ventura near the Channel Islands. They are the largest animal on earth and endangered. Just seeing the size and power of them makes you really appreciate the value of conservation and environmentalism. We learned to support endangered species. The world would not be as good without them.
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. They feed almost exclusively on krill, straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates (which hang from the roof of the mouth and work like a sieve). Some of the biggest individuals may eat up to 6 tons of krill a day.
Blue whales are found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean. There are five currently recognized subspecies of blue whales.
The number of blue whales today is only a small fraction of what it was before modern commercial whaling significantly reduced their numbers during the early 1900s, but populations are increasing globally. The primary threats blue whales currently face are vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. Today, blue whales are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Billy Gibbons
Unfortunately, this one is a Lesson Learned that I didn't successfully implement. ZZ Top has always been one of our favorite bands. The video below is a great example of why. The Lead Guitar player is Billy Gibbons, one of the best ever. We had the opportunity to meet Billy, Frank and Dusty (the band) at the Ryman. At the time, I was taking guitar lessons. I asked Billy - what's your best advice for an old guy trying to learn the guitar? He said - Practice, Practice, Practice. ....and I didn't do enough. Ugh.
I'm not done trying though. I still have all my equipment and videos from many of my lessons. Plan to invest more time in my retirement. Check back at the end of 2023 to see if I learned my lesson!
Elvis
We never met Elvis, but my Mother has had him at the forefront for my whole life and I was lucky enough to see him in person with her at Chicago Stadium when I was younger.
I just recently learned something interesting about him. He had a large role in funding the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor from proceeds from his famous Aloha in Hawaii concert. I believe he also may have done others in Hawaii for this reason as well. This tells me something about his patriotism and generosity that are a good model for others to follow. The Arizona sinking site is certainly a national monument, as they are still 900 crew members entombed there even today.
Billy Graham
Billy modeled how to lead a high integrity, honest, clean life.
We never met Billy, but we have studied his words and actions as an input to our Christian faith.
We have not had good luck with churches (the human side) over the years. As I described in the Lessons Learned page, we witnessed a large strong church basically destroyed due to accusations by people of questionable standing, professional greed, lack of forgiveness, etc. The dispute was mostly among the church leadership, but the people who paid the price were the congregation. How many people became disgruntled and left the church for good? Probably too many.
Then, we got to TN and it seemed like our church organization/leadership was challenging the concept that "All Lives Matter" which is something we believe. They also unbelievably made accusations about racial bias that were broad brushed to all and stereotyped. How can everyone of a particular race be guilty of anything? In addition, we only seemed to hear from them when it was money time. Even through COVID, there were no wellness checks, etc. Finally, there were disputes about whether the church should change their rules due to emerging cultural trends which went against historical biblical teachings and previously established morals. All this added up to a turnoff for us. We have a new church now that we feel good about and hopefully that will continue.
Back to Billy. While we were in the midst of the church organization turmoil, we needed a source for teaching that was "clean". After research, we concluded that was Billy. He brought so many to Christ through his huge rallies like the photo below, he avoided scandal during his life, and his messages were recorded and are still available today. So, thanks to Billy for the solid role modeling and helping us through a difficult time.
Click here to see info on Billy's library and present day mission
Return to Kevin and Linda Life Lessons Learned Page: Click here
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